In a few weeks, one of San Jose's greatest landmarks, the Fox California Theatre, will reopen its doors. Mr. David Packard (son of the P in HP and the owner of the theatre I worked at this summer and last) is the head donor.

Check out this great article from the San Jose Metro:

http://www.metroactive.com/papers/metro/09.08.04/california-0437.html

I can't wait to visit this place!

So....our party.

By all accounts it was a huge success, and it went off without a hitch. My only regret? That 40.

Luckily, I didn't have much of a hang over the next day and made it to the beach with Lauren, her brother Chris, and Steph. We had a really nice time up in Point Reyes at a beach in the Tule Elk reserve. Leo, Lauren, and I had been there before. The beach is by far one of the nicest I've been to...it has mystical qualities to it.

I'm really glad I got out of the house and to the beach on Sunday. It's been damn hot here in Berkeley. You wake up in the morning and it's already pushing 80. That kind of puts me in a funk. I discussed this with Lauren, and she agrees....there's something about an overcast/foggy morning that eases you in from sleeping to getting ready for school. It's a smoother transition between night and day. When it's already 80 at 10:30, I get thrown off.

Today, we finally got somewhere with our Europe winter trip planning. However, I have quite a ridiculous dilemma to deal with: Do I go to Europe with Leo and Lauren on December 27th, or do I assume that Cal might make it to the Rose Bowl for the first time in a bijilion years and wait till January 2nd.

Yes....I know. The Rose Bowl or a week Europe....what an AWFUL decision to have to make. Haha. What an unbelievable decision to have to make! First of all, I'm planning on going to Europe. That's crazy. The number of people in my family that have been there can be counted on one hand. Secondly, Cal at the Rose Bowl. Three years ago this would have sent even the most devoted fan into hysterics. That I would care so much as to postpone a trip to Europe would have made the 2001 version of me laugh too.

Nevertheless, I'm leaning towards meeting up with Leo and Lauren after New Years. It's my senior year, our team is better than it's been in generations, and I could only be so lucky to be a member of the graduating class that sees our team go its first Rose Bowl since 1957. If I do schedule the trip before the Rose Bowl, I would be subconsciously rooting against the team so that they don't achieve that goal. That would suck, and it would put a damper on the whole season, a part of my Senior year I've really been looking forward to.

As long as I can figure out an itinerary with Leo and Lauren that still makes going to Europe feasible and affordable between the 2nd and the start of school, I think missing out on a week of travel will be tolerable. Plus, I might save some money.

....um but first. I need some money to save. Anyone care to donate?

I was under the false impression that as one came closer to graduation, with fewer and fewer requirements to fill, schedule planning became easier.

Why did I ever think this? For the past three years I've been free to rearrange my classes, postpone things, shuffle them around, decide to take them next year. But this year, there is no next year. And if I postpone a class till next semester, I risk having it conflict with another class I need to take to either graduate or complete my minor. Which means summer school or another semester. That stresses me out.

I have never had this much trouble with my schedule before. Good thing I didn't try to squeeze a Landscape Architecture minor in. That would have been chaos.

I had to drop Portuguese. When they said Portuguese for advanced students, they meant it. At least 1/5 of the class already had a basic understanding of the language. The rest seemed to be fluent or very comfortable with another romance language, especially Spanish. Half had spent time in Brazil. Perhaps my 4 years of Spanish would have been enough....IF I had taken this class my freshman year. Too much Spanish has left my head to get through Portuguese . So...buy-bye Portuguese.

Which left me with 11 units. You need 12 to be full-time in the CED. So I added a random 1 unit polysci guest lecture class to bring me back to 12. The class seems easy...almost too easy. The prof had no qualms about making fun of students, insulting us for taking the class, and the university for offering it. The intention was to be sarcastic and funny.....and he was! But I left the class feeling like I was a slacker.

But here's the real curve ball of my week...the Prof for Econ 3/Environmental Econ 1 this semester seems just awful. Especially when compared to the Prof that I had for the same class last semester, but had to drop to take studio. And after talking to my friends, who have had both this prof and last semester's prof, my worst fears were true. The Prof this semester just throws formulas at you with little explanation. The class is easy for people that are good with algebra and formula processing, but really doesn't teach you anything in the end.

If there's one thing I learned through the college level math classes I have taken, is that I need SUBSTANCE behind my formulas. I need something to grasp on to, to apply them to. I need well explained examples of how things work in real life according to the formula, I can't just be told that they work and that's that. It is the difference between the B+ in Stats and a D+/C- in Calculus.

The whole point of taking Environmental Economics was so I could link something I dread, Econimcs, to something I have a solid understanding and strong interest in, Environmental Policy. The prof last semester really seemed to grasp this and got me kind of excited about it. The prof this semester was DRY and boring, and just got right to the graphs and formulas with little explanation.

If postponing Econ 3 to next semester means I'll get a prof that explains things better.....then I really want to drop it this semester. But maybe I am just over reacting and jumping ship too early....I don't know.

So in an attempt to cover all my bases, tonight I've been scrambling to find another class to replace it, that still works towards my degree.

After 14 years of religious education I vowed to never take a religion class again....but guess what I've signed myself up for. ...Religion90a. Introduction to Islam. Same time as Econ 3. I'll skip Econ 3 and check it out tomorrow. Hopefully it'll be interesting enough to make me feel more comfortable with this last minute schedule shift. That way I can get my last breadth requirement out of the way, and only have Econ and my minor to worry about next semester.

I hope this all works out. Wish me luck.

Here we go...

Coming back a week early was an excellent decision. Good job, me.

My friends and I all actually have the time to hang out with each other. Saw Garden State last night with almost the whole crew. The movie was really good...the car ride back to the house was really humorous. I have the tendency to say things sometimes that really aren't supposed to be funny but are. And I guess when you have seven people in a car designed to fit 5 at most, things are even funnier.

I've got to meet up with some of the freshman I know too. Lauren and I even sat in on some of the boring freshman convocation speeches on the Glade with her lil sis, a frosh. (hearing the band play drew me in) Ran into Seth and Bongo Burger (yum) with Erik and his mom. Then after Erik's mom left the three of us went to the park and rode the awesome slide there a few times. Then we walked Seth back to our old stomping grounds, La Loma, and visited Hanah at Stern. Seeing all those freshman made me think about how much has changed sine we were in their shoes, and how quickly time has flown by. Jeesh.

In other news, picked up my Cal Football "true blue" shirt today. Also got Kay and Kat to buy there season tickets last night. The excitement sure is building. Hoping for the Rose Bowl, making a trip down to USC, fun stuff. Talk about change, all the classes that have come to Cal after us have no memory of that god awful 2001 season with Holmoe. (1-10...big game loss...empty stands...sad sad sad).

Kat and I also signed up for the GRE in late October. Yikes. The GRE. Graduation. Grad School. A job. Anxiety attack...anxiety attack...breath, nick. breath. hehe.

Tomorrow I have to help out with the City Planning orientation, and then at night we're having a going away dinner for Steph, who's leaving us this semester for Italy. It'll be sad to see her go, but I'm looking forward to tomorrow because pretty much everyone will be there. (Even Ryan..who's not going back to Modesto after all!)

Hopefully a few of the high school crew will make it up sometime before classes start. And then on Monday I'll start my last year with Portuguese. I'm gonna try and make my grandma proud.

I'm back in Berkeley, and I'm feeling pretty excited about it. We'll see how long that lasts. hehe.

Well, Mountain View. What can I say. My hard work over the last month did have an impact, much more of an impact that I thought it would. But there was no way I could undo 2 and a half years of misconceptions and mistakes . I came back home this summer to find that our City Council really had no clue what it was doing. It seems like they finally realized this last Tuesday night, but still moved forward with an ordinance that the majority of them did not really feel comfortable with.

I won't bore you with the details, but here are some articles about the ordinance:

My Mountain View Voice Op-Ed

The Mountain View Voice's Editorial

Post-Ordinance Article *
*this article says the vote was 6-1. It was 5-2. The two women on the council voted against the voluntary ordinance. (We need more women on the council.)

Anyway, with that chapter of my life behind me, I'm looking forward to moving on. Of course, this issue is far from over and MVPA still has a lot of work to do. I just need a couple weeks to sit back, relax, and get back into the groove of school.

It looks to be an exciting semester on a lot of fronts. I know quite a few freshman who I'm looking forward to visiting and hanging out with every now and then, including my cousin Marisa who's just down the way at Mills College in Oakland. My Aunt's running for Mountain View-Whisman School Board, and hopefully I'll have some time to help her. And the elections in general should be exciting, 4 seats up for grabs on the council means the potential for a major power shift. Plus, the presidential elections....yikes. My club, BUSSA, is also about to start its first full year, which is going to be really cool I'm sure. I should be planning a trip to Europe this January with Leo and Lauren too. And those Cal Bears are sure looking good, can't wait for our football games.

And it being my senior year, every moment with my friends here will be extra important. Before we know it we'll all be off to new lives. I want this year to go by nice and slow, in a good way, but I know that's impossible. It's gonna flash by. So here's hoping it's a memorable one.

Tonight is the final public hearing on Mountain View's historic preservation ordinance. This last week has been crazy. I am burnt out. Tired of all the e-mails, all the meetings, all the letters. Now I have to drag myself off to one last meeting.

Only problem is, we're hoping the council tables the mess of an ordinance they have before them and just revisits the issue later. Yeah...later. Which means that this all might never end. I hardley expect the council to follow that advice, much more likely is that after tonight MV will have one of the crappiest preservation ordinances (whether voluntary or mandatory) in the state. Gag.

I was right in my last post. This is like finals. Maybe even worse. At this point going back to school will be a vacation.

Random assortment of thoughts:

This summer is quickly, and I mean quickly, coming to an end. These last couple of weeks are going to be INTENSE. Like...finals... in a weird way. Not only do I have my job at the theatre and the four articles I still need to write for the Voice to finish, but Mountain View's preservation ordinance goes to the council for a final decision (we think) on August 17th. 3 days later, its back up to Berkeley for a week of nothingness. I look forward to that.

But until then I'm in high gear. This ordinance stuff is really stressing me out. I have to read old novels from high school english class to ease my mind before I fall asleep. Just one last push before what will likely be a bitter defeat for historic preservation in Mountain View. *sigh* I'm expecting the worst but still fighting for the best.

Matt and Kim have gone off to Hawai'i for school. My cousin Vanessa will soon join them. It's hard to believe that three people so important to my life are going so far away. Not used to that at all. I'll probably see them as much as I did before, but its just weird that they won't be around to just drop by. Especially Matt. I could always call him to hang out whenever I was home....ever since 7th grade. But I am really excited for all three of them and I'm really hoping to spend my spring break Hawai'i!

And I guess its all right that Vanessa is leaving, cause I'm getting a new cousin come December. (just kiddin Vaness if you ever read this....you are irreplaceable.) But everything seems to be checking out okay with my Uncle Victor and Aunt Elise's new baby. The 10th cousin. He will dethrown Sabrina, who has enjoyed a 14 year reign as the youngest cousin. I'm looking forward to meeting him.

Let's see...anything else? LA was really nice. I flew down by myself and took a two-hour taxi-van ride (thank you SoCal traffic) from the airport to Disneyland. Most randomly, one of my fellow riders was a Mtn. View native, transplanted to Portland. She went to Awalt High School when they closed my parents high school and renamed it Mountain View High. I might end up interviewing her for an arcticle I'm working on.

My parents and Chris were still on there way down from Davis orientation, so I met up with Kim who was there with her dad and sis. It was nice to spend the evening with them, and kind of surreal to jump off a plane, sit in traffic, and suddenly be in Disneyland with them. Once the family got there, we had a really nice time. We spent some relaxing days at the park, spending more time just sitting and watching the crowds then riding the rides. We do Disneyland right. We also made it up to the Getty Center, which is just amazing. If the architect, Richard Meier, brings even a fraction of its style to San Jose's new city hall, this valley will have a landmark to be proud of.

All righty. That should do it for now. I'll probably update this thing August 17th, post-ordinance adoption vent. Until then, enjoy the rest of your summer people.

Funny ...I'm sitting here thinking too bad I can't bring my laptop with me to LA tomorrow so I can work on my articles during the car ride home (its battery is dead) . Then I realize that within my own lifetime people didn't have laptops on which to write articles while on assignment or on trips. Weird. Writing on paper. Hmmm. Maybe I'll give it a try.

Doing the interviews for these first two articles has been more fun than I ever expected. I especially enjoyed yesterday's interview with an 90 something year old lady who has spent her entire life in Old Mountain View. She lives in a house built in 1880 surrounded by the last acre of her father's orchard. Stepping on to her property was like stepping back in time.

She was unbelievably sweet, and had a lot of interesting stories to tell. I really hope I can do her justice in the article. It's amazing the changes she's seen in her life time. The area that now most people consider the heart of "old" Mountain View wasn't even built when she was a child in the late 1920s.  It was great just chatting with her, even after my tape ran out. She wanted to know all about my family, and when I told her my mom is Mexican-American she exclaimed, "Oh that's why you have such beautiful eyes!' Aww shucks.

I had another interview today with a guy that's lived in Old MV for about two years. He was really cool, and it was so great to talk to someone with such a positive attitude about the Mountain View community. He's been here such a short time but it is already well connected to it, and he has a really good grip on what makes this city so special, it's diversity, it's unpretentious nature, and its unique sense of place. The fact that people like him are moving here makes me really optimistic about this city's future.

And finally I ended up calling a guy for an interview that sent me an e-mail yesterday complimenting my web page. He's Filipino-American, a dad of 15-month old baby. Very cool guy. Lives where the high school used to be, wife works in the new office building a block away, walks everywhere, except to Safeway. Loves it here. A City Planner's dream come true! The urban village does exist!

Anyhow, just overall, it's been really fun. I'm about half way through my second article, with four more to go. The next four should be a bit more challenging, but I'm looking forward to it. I also had a good meeting with the editor of the Voice, we talked about articles I can write in the fall about Mountain View history. She likes my story proposals, but I've proposed some pretty touchy, complex, and delicate pieces on par with my Washington Street series. It's gonna be a challenge to write them, especially during school. But I'm very excited about the prospect of telling these stories.

And finally, working at the Stanfurd Theatre is nice. So far I have avoided the cashier position most of the time and stayed at the door greeting people and taking tickets, or serving drinks. Let's hope I can keep that up. I can't count. It's sad. Most of the new hires since I worked there last summer are stanfurd co-eds who claim to not like football much and not really care about the rivalry. I just respond by saying, "I've heard more of that in the past two years...wonder why...maybe it's cause we have something you want..hmmm?" And their faces turn Cardinal Red. Hehe. Hopefully I can razz them enough to make them care by next year. God knows that school could use a resurgence of spirit. 

I got bored for a second and started reading away messages and came across Tejas':

"a cold and wet November dawn and there are no barking sparrows. just emptiness to dwell upon

I fell into a winter slide and ended up the kind of kid who goes down chutes too narrow..."

I have had enough. Something must be said about the abuse of November in song lyrics by emo-bands.

I'm tired of all these whiny white boy emo bans dissing my month, November. Nothing against emo-rock, which I usually enjoy. But please Jimmy Eat World. Please Postal Service. Please...The Shins.  And yes, please...The Early November. The November bashing must end.

November is not dark and depressing and rainy. It's not empty.

November is fun! You eat turkey, lots of turkey! It's home to Thanksgiving, one of the few holidays that's still simple and oriented around family-friend togetherness. It's a nice lull in the holiday storms of Halloween and Christmas. I love November. And it's football season. (But you probably don't like Football...try college football, that won me over.) Oh! And elections are in November! Exciting! (and hopefully not depressing this year...vote people, vote...unless your voting for Bush.).

Also, in case you didn't know, November starts with the letter N. Many good things start with the letter N.  And, of course, I was born in November.

So stop using it in all your sad depressing lyrics emo twerps. November shall no longer be your metaphor for all that is melodramatic in life.

End this. Now.

Or else I'll sic my grandma on you.

She was born on November 13th.

-------------------
Addendum:

The2Stepper:  i think november gets such a bad wrap because its the worst month of the quarter...december has christmas...october has beautiful fall colors and halloween candy 
Auto response from Nap98: around.   
The2Stepper:  novembers like the slump in between  
The2Stepper:  except for the 1/12 of the population that has their birthday there  
The2Stepper:  although i would actually imagine its more than 1/12 of the population...at least in the U.S. or other hallmark countries  
The2Stepper:  because valentines day is nine months prior  
Nap98:  haha

All right. Time for DC photos. The city is damn photogenic, in a very different way from Boston. I've kept these photos really small so the blog doesn't take forever to load like it did with Beantown.



The WWII Memorial on our first night. A column exists for each state, I took this picture of New Mexico's for my grandpa. The Washington Monument is in the background.



The WWII Memorial's Rainbow Pool and Fountain at night.



An awesome Mariachi group from Los Angeles packed in the crowds at "Nuestra Musica" on the Mall. My grandpa had seen them before.



Georgetown is the oldest part of DC. Kind of like Boston's Backbay, a very old area filled with very trendy stores.



A nice shot of the Capitol.



Who's seen Farenheit 9-11? Everyone that reads this thing. You probably can't make it out this small, but they're throwing a peace sign.



Grandpa standing in front of a plaque at the WWII Memorial showing what he did during the war, amphibious landings.



The four of us at the entrance to the WWII Memorial.



Sabrina at the Jefferson Memorial.



The Lincoln Memorial was really beautiful, especially on our last evening in DC.

It took a trip to Washington DC to make me feel the slightest bit patriotic this Fourth of July. After seeing Fahrenheit 9-11 a couple nights before the trip, I wondered how I could muster up the spirit to be amongst a sea of flag-waving, "God Bless the USA" singing Americans...

...but DC did it. The museums, and especially the memorials, helped me look past the current administration, the war, and all the politics and get back in touch with the roots of this country and all the lofty hopes and ideals it is constantly struggling to attain. We've stumbled, yes. We sure are stumbling right now. But there is still a lot to be proud of.

Being at the WWII Memorial with my grandpa was especially moving People came up and thanked him, saying their father, or grandfather, or uncle, or whoever served in the war. You could tell that many of the people at the memorial were visiting to honor someone they had lost....not in the war, but after it. It memorial was built too late for so many WWII Veterans who have passed on of old age. I am so lucky to have shared that experience with my grandpa. I'll cherish the memories forever.

But what really did it for me, was the "Nuestra Musica" festival the Smithsonian had set up as part of their big annual American Folklife Festival on the National Mall. The performers and announcers made sure to remind the audience that this was a showcase of LATINO musicians, Americans, not exoctics from foreign lands. That Latino culture is also American culture, and has been here for centuries.

The multi-state. multi-ethnic conglomeration of Americans present on our nations mall loved every minute of it. They packed into the performance tents watched the awesome performers, sang together, and danced together. Watching them dance was amazing.

People who had never met each other, of every color and race got together on that dance floor and let it loose. Old people, young people, even a guy in a wheelchair danced. Each person brought their own unique twist to the dance floor (I've never seen people dance to Cumbia or Tejano music the way some of them did!) The less experienced tried to learn from each other and borrow each other's moves. And when someone didn't have a partner when they got on the dance floor, a few seconds later they did.

That dance floor gave me something to celebrate on the Fourth of July. It represented what I hope America is about. A very diverse group of folks coming together, learning from each other, but staying true to themselves, all while making something far from perfect, but still beautiful.

Back from DC. Great trip. More later. Very tired, in a good way.

Job situation seems to be solved. Back at the theatre on Saturday, doing some freelance for the Voice. Better late than never.

I just noticed how the ads on top of our blogs, try to pick up on their content with some "related searches." Kind of funny to see what comes up. Here's a look at what I see right now:

Candice:
Ads: Dance Tight Distributors and Tights at Discount Dance
Related searches: "Hot Pants" and "Pants"

Hmm...all right. That dress code post.

Erik:
A blank white space sponsored by Google.

Even the ads couldn't figure it out.

Kat:
Ads: "Dude Where's My Car - On sale Now" and "ipower Web Hosting"
Related searches: "Dude, Where's my Car" and "Funny stuff"

Dude.

Lauren:
Ads: "Days in Deals- Wash DC" and "No Jet Lag- Great Remedey"
Related searches: Paula Cole

Wonder where Paula Cole came from?

Tejas:
Ads: "iPower Webhosting" and "Create your Blog Today"
Related searches: blog and fear

He does reference his blog a lot. Fear eh? Haha.

I need to get out of Mountain View...and go some place less politically charged...like DC. Haha. Yeah. I'll be there in a day though and I'm looking forward to it.

God I can't wait till this whole preservation ordeal is done with. It's like watching a very slow and painful death. Kill my dream already! Kill it!

Things aren't that bad. Something good can still come of this. But after over two years of debate, MV is gonna end up with an ordinance that allows for the demolition of historic landmarks without public review or city approval. The property rights group is angrier, louder, better funded, and has more connections. (one of them is an old friend and furd frat brother of the mayor). They skew the facts, resort to name calling (According to them, Chris and I are "arrogant zealots", btw) and have scared the city into buying an almost Libertarian philosophy. In taking the high road, not stooping to their level, my group may have preserved its honor and respectability but not the buildings we were trying to save. Oh well, lesson learnt.

But in the end, it comes down to the City Council. And the current council is not the same council that got this ball rolling in the first place. The only one who truly seems to care about preservation is off in Afghanistan. The rest of the bunch is surpringly conservative for a town like Mountain View. I guess we'll have to wait another 30 years for the city to get this right. Until then my group is going to have its work cut out for it, using education and advocacy to save landmarks without an effective ordinance.

I spent this past Wednesday through Saturday at San Luis Obispo with Martin and Dustin. Quite the adventure. Martin goes to CalPoly so we stayed at his place down there. He turned 21 on Saturday, and the plan was to hit the bars on Friday night at midnight. Ends up Martin and Dustin decided to drink every night we were there. I ended up driving them and Martin's friends around every night in Tin's car.

(FYI it's Martin with a Spanish accent over the i...so Marteen...we call him Teen sometimes, but its spelled Tin. Just wanted you to be able to read this right)

Anyhow, I volunteered to be the DD for a variety of reasons. First of all, while they assured me ways home would be found, I saw from the start that once people were drunk they insisted on driving when they shouldn't be. I didn't want to risk that happening.

Secondly, Martin's house was a dirty. Superfund site dirty. Food in various levels of decay dirty. So dirty it stank and made my stomach turn dirty. It made the messiest the Pink House has ever been look sparkling clean. (in fact, it made me realize how damn good I have it at that house!) Thank god Martin's room was comparatively clean. The bathroom however, was awful. I didn't want to wake up with a hang over in that house.

And third, I'm low on cash and drinking is expensive. I only had 10 bucks in my wallet when we went to the bars. I had one beer. With no job this summer, I feel really bad about spending money on things I don't need.

I won't go into more detail...but Martin and Dustin weren't the most fun people to be around when they were drunk. Up till this weekend, every drunk person I've been around has been a jolly drunk. But after a certain point, Dustin gets angry and aggressive and Martin get moody and emotional. Much cooler when they're sober. Haha. Nevertheless, it was still kinda cool to see what the CalPoly party/social/bar scene is like. Worlds apart from Cal. Or at least the Cal I know. I can see the benefits, but I know now more than ever that when I chose Cal over CalPoly, I made one of the best decisions I've ever made or will ever make in my life.

The days however, were great. We went to Morro Bay and checked out the tide pools, went on an awesome sunset/night hike to the top of Bishop's Peak with two of Martin's housemates, and spent an afternoon in Pismo. Fun times. Martin's friends down there are pretty cool. I had fun hangin' with them.

So yeah...the trip had its tough times. Survivor: SLO times. But overall I'm still really glad I went. Even the parts of the trip that weren't so great at the time are already funny (or at least absurd) memories.

Tonight Martin's family threw him a bday party/BBQ at their house. A sizeable grouping of my high school friends were there. Dustin, Martin, Matt, Kim, Jamie, and Lauren B. We all really had a great time. Martin was the only one of us who drank (as it should be, he is celebratin his 21st after all..but he was only a little buzzed).

But the night, in a way, reinforced why I love my group of friends from high school so much. We are that rare group of SFHS alums that can have tons o' fun together without drugs or alcohol. God I sound like an afternoon special. But it's true. Tonight was the first night we were all together as 21 year olds, and while we all enjoy drinking every now and then, it's not something we think we need to loosen up or feel comfortable enough to have a really good time together. I'm glad to see that hasn't changed now that we're all 21. Some nights just being around them gets me on a natural high and I become really goofy and feel really at ease. Tonight was one of those nights. We can make each other drunk I guess...without alcohol if that makes any sense.

Long live Team Fuzzy Bunny Unicorn Zebra Pants!

Don't ask.

I just got back from a really nice lunch with my grandpa. We talked about a lot of stuff, including the DC trip. He really is excited about the trip and was telling the waitress about it and the party. Cool. That's what I needed to hear.

Now..if only Palo Alto would get back to me.

So, my Boston photos in the previous post seem to go off-line every now and then. Sorry bout that.

I'm well into my summer vacation, and have yet to land a job. Even a voluntary one, and now its too late to really find anything good. I'll probably end up working at the Stanford Theatre again, but won't be making much money since they are hardly ever open this summer it seems. Anyways, I told them when I could work...but haven't heard back.

Palo Alto continues to lead me on. Interviewing me in April. Saying they'd get back to me in a couple weeks. Getting back to me in mid-May saying I was not chosen. Calling me the next week saying, "whoops, you're actually one of three finalists!' Saying they'd get back to me in a week. Not returning my e-mail a week later. Not returning my call two weeks later. Returning my second e-mail giving me bad news about not being chosen. BUT saying they would like to hire me for an hourly job assisting their historic preservation planner. Saying they'd get back to me last week and that I should call if they don't. Not returning my call. I'm still hoping this can work out...someday.

And since no jobs seem to be in my immediate future, I'm considering going to Cal Poly with Martin and Matt later this week.

Other thoughts:

Santa Cruz with Martin, Dustin, Jamie, and Rachel was a lot of fun. First official trip to the beach of the summer. Had a great time hanging out with a good chunk of my old high school crew.

My day in Berkeley last Thursday was very nice. The DCRP/BUSSA meetings went well, and it was good to see Kat, Candice, and Kay for lunch.

My grandpa's surprise birthday party went really well.

...now it's kinda up to me to make sure his present from the whole family, a fully paid trip to Washington DC to see the new World War II Memorial, goes well too.

Chris, my lil cuz Sabrina, and I will be taking him there from July 2nd to July 7th. The whole thing was my idea, and I planned everything, from the hotel to the flight, to getting everyone's approval and contribution. Right now, the trip is really stressing me out, because I have to figure all the logistics out and am feeling a lot of pressure to make sure that my grandpa has a good time.

I have to worry about how far he can walk, if he can withstand the heat and humidity, where we can get food for him that fits his strict diabetic diet, what sites we are going to see, who will be watching over my grandma while we are gone, etc. And he's not letting me forget any of that. I expected he would have some concerns about the trip. But I also hoped he would show some more excitement about it and spend some more time thinking and talking about the fun we could have. It would make all the stress I've gone through and am going through to plan this bearable. But instead, I get a litany of concerns from him, followed by "well, it's all up to you Nick, you're the leader here I'll just do what you say." Ack. But that's my grandpa for ya.

Hopefully, once we are there, everything will work out and it'll be a great trip.

Time for Boston Photos!

The North End

This is a photo of the North End, Boston's oldest neighborhood. I loved it here. The neighborhood used to be cut off from the rest of the city by a freeway, but now because of the infamous "Big Dig" where they are putting the freeway underground, its connected again. Paul Revere's house is here (and I visited it)so is the church where they lit the lanterns ("one if by land, two if by sea"). The neighborhood has been predominantly Italian for decades, with very narrow streets, small markets, and many beautiful little churches. All in all, as close to Europe as I have ever been!

The Public Garden

The Public Garden was near my hotel in the Backbay neighborhood. It's one of the oldest parks in the city and America and is filled with beautiful old statues, and a pastoral lake where you can rent swan boats and paddle around. I really liked this old angel fountain.

Beacon Hill

Beacon Hill is one of the most ritzy neighborhoods in Boston. Very blue blood. It's home to beautiful brick rowhouses, cobblestone streets, corner markets, the original Cheers, lots of little dogs, and John Kerry. It's right in the heart of the city, behind the State Capitol.

This cobblestone street is really eye catching. It kind of captures the feel of the whole neighborhood, and is frequently photographed.

Beacon Street is the main street of the neighborhood. Unlike other wealthy neighborhood shopping areas, the stores here are pretty practical, but very immaculate and classy. You have high end restaurants, antique shops, and the nicest looking 7-11 I have ever seen. This little market's storefront really stood out.

Boston Public Library

The Boston Public Library's main branch was across the street from my hotel on Copley Square in the Back Bay. It is one of the first public libraries in the country, and is beautiful both inside and out. As my other pictures show, the sky was usually overcast most of the trip. The sun came out and streamed through the library's lobby windows for a moment when I snapped this photo.

The State Capitol

The MA State Capitol is an awesome building. This photo is looking up towards the main rotunda's golden dome.

...that's all for now. I might post some more later.

Wow. What a busy summer so far.

I'll put some pics up of my Boston trip soon. But the trip was a lot of fun and the city was great! And if things pan out.... Boston won't be the only eastcoast city I'll be visiting this summer! More on that later too.

Still waiting to hear from Palo Alto. Jeeze. Time to call the Stanford Theatre again. I can't sit around forever waiting for Palo Alto to get their act together. (Although I'd very much like to) But I need money.

In other news...Chris is now a SFHS Alumni. It's crazy! I'm so proud of my little brother. He didn't get any recognition at graduation for the stuff he did this year, but the Mtn. View paper got it right and profiled him in this week's article about the SFHS class of 2004. He shares the article with a profile of the super-star valedictorian and the student body president. And Chris was the first of the three to be profiled. Right on, MV Voice. They've always treated us Perry bros quite nicely.

Check it out:

Lancers Ready for Next Step

Same edition, he's the author of one of the Teen Voice articles. (I helped him write this one)

The Pressure To Drink

That's all for now. Hope your summer is going well.